Minimize waning fellowship

The second chapter of Judges speaks about the children of Israel doing a two-step, engaging a double-minded relationship with God. There are clearly two phases in this relationship - forsake and retake.

In the forsake step, the children of Israel seek after other gods. Sometimes they are serving Baal and Astaroth, sometimes they are serving Baalim and the groves, but the scripture is clear - the children of Israel have left off serving God. God is not pleased with their decision to do so and punishes the children of Israel, mostly by taking away His protection ..., which always results in some form of oppression.

In the retake step, the children of Israel repent, realizing they still need Him, and seek after God. It does not include motive and such, but because it tends to follow some form of oppression, I would argue those seasons of seeking after God necessarily draw from that oppression. In addition, some time after their season of repentance, the children of Israel fall away again.

Anyone familiar with scripture should recognize this waxing and waning of the fellowship of the children of Israel with God.

Anyone familiar with people anywhere should recognize this waxing and waning of the fellowship of people anywhere with God.

It may even be why everyone loves an underdog - it reinforces our faith that when we are down, God will rise and provide aid, provided we seek after Him with a heart drawn to Him.

The point I should like to draw out here is simply this: our lives are full of daily opportunities to experience this same wave of fellowship with God. How often is it that that fellowship is waxing due to a wise decision on our part, followed by a season of waning due to a foolish decision?

I believe the goal of a believer, one who would fellowship with Christ, is to seek to cause the waxing season to be maximized and the waning season to be minimized. To recognize that both periods are inevitable for us, but they can be addressed and wisely considered.

Therefore, my call to action is: Minimize waning fellowship!

Document when you feel least close to God

There are few of us who do not feel inconsistent connectivity to God. This does not mean we ARE far from Him (for he does not leave us nor forsake us) but we can often FEEL that way. Record those periods when you feel less close to God and see if you can associate them with other events, thoughts, or situations. It is possible that those are periods where God calls you to seek His face or they might be periods of attack where your only resolution might be to claim 2 Timothy 1:7 and hold fast to God's presence.

Read scripture daily

Scripture says, "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:17) - and it is through scripture that we are girded from all sorts of mischief. Thus, one way we can reduce (or eliminate in large part) the destruction wrought by the arrows of sin and vice are simply to go to scripture. Pray before reading, seeking God's peace, and the delving into scripture will reap rewards and you will draw closer to Him. Likewise, your walk with Jesus will be greatly magnified and you will find the period of waning to be a great deal shorter.

Seek after God's heart

Take a moment today and ask God what you should be focusing on. Do not expect Him to answer in the next five minutes or hour, but consider that He wants to guide you and He will never forsake you, so it will be easier than you expect. But following the asking comes the hard part - the waiting. Often our faith is most tested between the requesting and the manifesting. If you find that praying for something rarely (if ever) provides the results that expect, seek God's counsel! This can take the form of other believers, delving into scripture, praying and fasting, or just simply daily prayer. In short, if an event could offer an opportunity to take away your faith, God will always provide a way to draw closer to Him through it.